Shelter could benefit jail, and taxpayers

Sarasota Police officers issued notices to homeless people living along Florida Ave. that they have five days to remove their belongings from the public sidewalk or the property will be seized. Police are working with several charitable organizations to help find shelter and storage for the people who have been living at the homeless camp. (May 1, 2013; Herald-Tribune staff photo by Mike Lang)

Published: Saturday, November 23, 2013 at 9:59 p.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, November 23, 2013 at 9:59 p.m.

SARASOTA - His 15th arrest of the year occurred much like the ones before.

Facts

The report

Presentations of Robert Marbut's report, all on Monday:• From 9 to 11 a.m., Sarasota County Commission joint meeting with North Port and Venice commissioners at Venice Community Center, 326 S. Nokomis Ave. • From 2 to 4 p.m., Sarasota County Commission joint meeting with Sarasota at the County Commission Chambers, 1660 Ringling Blvd.• From 5:30 to 7 p.m., Sarasota Herald-Tribune's Hot Topics forum at Mildred Sainer Pavilion, New College, 5313 Bay Shore Road. To watch a live stream of the sold-out Hot Topics forum featuring Robert Marbut, go to HeraldTribune.com/live at 5:30 p.m. Monday.• Follow the morning and afternoon discussions on Twitter using the hashtag #Marbut. Follow the evening Hot Topics forum using hashtag #HTTopics

Kenneth Shelton was drinking a beer along Indiana Avenue in Englewood in September when he was picked up for trespassing, his usual charge.

Shelton, 72, is homeless. Perhaps more accurately, he is a part-time resident of the Sarasota County jail, where he spent 139 nights between September 2012 and September 2013.

Taxpayers paid $9,889.85 for his stays.

If he spent 139 days at a homeless shelter it would have cost $2,085 and Shelton would have received addiction and health services, says Bill Spitler, Sheriff's Office director of planning and research.

Whether you're an altruist or economist, Sarasota County leaders and law enforcement officials say building a homeless shelter makes sense. People who need services and lodging are being detained, and a shelter would save money.

That's the conclusion of a consultant hired to help the community address its homeless population, and elected officials appear to be in agreement. On Monday, consultant Robert Marbut will discuss his recommendations during several public meetings.

Every day, two or three people end up in the Sarasota County jail for crimes associated with living on the street, in cars or the woods: trespassing; drinking a beer on the street; public urination.

Every night they sleep in lockup costs taxpayers $71.15.

In the past year, officers and deputies arrested 1,616 people who reported being homeless, according to data compiled by the Sheriff's Office. Many of those are “frequent fliers” who have landed in jail several times.

About a quarter of the homeless people arrested account for more than 53 percent of the total homeless arrests, according to Spitler's data analysis.

Often people are arrested a second time because they couldn't pay court fines, thus violating their probation. Others suffer from addiction or mental health issues.

“We have effectively criminalized those social illnesses,” Public Defender Larry Eger said.

His staff's energy would be better spent representing people who have committed crimes, Eger said.

“There's a lot of folks who come into the jail because we, as a society, find their behavior a nuisance and need to move them somewhere different than where they are at this moment and we use the criminal justice system to do that,” said Wayne Applebee, the county's new homeless coordinator.

When the county decided to spend $500,000 in the 2014 budget to address homelessness and help fund a shelter, Commissioner Christine Robinson urged fellow commissioners and the city of Sarasota to allocate money. Robinson was a sharp critic of “overspending” in the county's budget but said the homeless shelter is a worthwhile investment that would cut down on jail costs.

“It has a direct economic impact on our budget,” she said.

Deidre Galehouse was drunk and yelling outside an old acquaintance's home when she was arrested for trespassing in December 2011.

She was 24 and homeless. She said the arrest and ensuing jail time continued a downward spiral that she's still struggling to overcome.

She lost her driver's license and her job driving for a lawn maintenance company. She was in and out of jail five times over the next year, including arrests for disorderly intoxication, lodging outdoors and violating a restraining order.

Between jail stays, Galehouse said knew she was violating her probation because she couldn't afford the probation fines and required urine tests, but didn't know what to do.

“It's not like I ran or anything. I kept calling the probation officer. I just couldn't pay,” Galehouse said.

She was arrested for the probation violation, and said she owes thousands of dollars in unpaid court fines. That's nothing compared with others.

One man, Willie, has been picked up for open-container violations so many times, “they call him the $100,000 man,” said Tommy Boulas, Galehouse's partner.

Instead of ticketing or arresting someone for illegally sleeping or drinking outdoors, deputies could offer to take the person to a shelter, said Spitler. Case managers could help the person get the charge dismissed in exchange for community service.

Boulas said such a shelter would help the couple save money.

He looks for work wherever he can, and is often able to pay for a hotel room, but he can't scrape together enough for a first and last month's rent and a shot at greater stability.

On the nights that the couple cannot afford a hotel, they usually sleep by Sarasota Bay, in an open area where Boulas can see people coming.

“You have to sleep with one eye open,” he said.

Police will drive up to them and lay on the horn, he said. They move on, trying to find a better place to catch a few hours' sleep.

To compound their troubles, Galehouse recently broke her ankle when she was biking and hit a curb. She wore a thick, camouflage-print cast — her third.

She constantly has to change them, when the casts get wet from rain and sleeping on the damp ground.

The couple took out a payment plan for the medical bills. They have no idea how they will pay.

In the fall of 2010, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri's office was struggling after budget cuts.

The office was short-staffed. Parts of the jail had to close, but the number of people staying there was creeping toward 3,500. Hundreds of people slept on the floor every night.

“It wasn't sustainable,” Gualtieri said. “We had to do something to unclog the system.”

A new jail would have cost $3.9 million a year to operate.

Instead, he opted to build a homeless shelter that costs $1.6 million a year.

When Pinellas Safe Harbor opened in January 2011, the sheriff quickly noticed a drop at the jail.

Now, the jail population hovers around 3,000. And while other factors contributed to the drop, Gualtieri estimates that if Safe Harbor closed, some 200 people would be right back in jail.

Sarasota County and city officials who toured Safe Harbor were quickly converted. Spitler said he went from a skeptic to asking, “Why haven't we been doing this?”

The shelter also houses adults who have no place else to go. By connecting people with services and housing early on, Gaultieri said, the system prevents future run-ins with law enforcement.

That preventive role has to be taken into account when Sarasota County looks at creating a shelter, he said.

Just looking at the number of homeless people arrested in Sarasota County for “nuisance” crimes, who would be eligible to go to the shelter, makes the potential population appear small, both the Sarasota and Pinellas County sheriffs said.

On average, 18 homeless people are arrested in Sarasota County every week for those low-level crimes, Spitler said. That's less than 2 percent of the jail's average population.

While 18 people a week may seem low initially, the number of people channeled into the system will steadily increase, said Robert Marbut, the homelessness consultant hired to help the city and county address the need.

Marbut previously consulted in Pinellas County and helped set up Safe Harbor, and urged Sarasota officials to use it as a model for their own facility.

When Sarasota Police Officer David Dubendorf arrests or gives a court summons to someone who is homeless, nine times out of 10 it's not the first time.

He prefers a summons, and tries to avoid taking people to jail for a violation like drinking on a curb.

Bringing them to jail takes an officer off the street for an hour, costs taxpayers more money and is usually ineffective, said Dubendorf, the police department's homeless liaison.

That mentality could contribute to the seemingly low number of homeless people arrested for minor crimes.

However, Dubendorf estimated 40 percent of the time the people he deals with don't show up to their court date and are arrested later for failure to appear.

In the past year, 18 percent of homeless arrests countywide occurred because someone had a warrant out, according to Sarasota County Sheriff's Office data. That warrant is often for failing to appear or pay court fines, Spitler said.

For some homeless people in the city, going to jail is a part of life.

“To them it's just a natural chain of events, to them it's just a circle,” Dubendorf said. “It's not that big of a deal to go.”

But many people would be able to transition out of homelessness if they had the right system to help them make the leap, Boulas said.

Sarasota has made it comfortable for people to be homeless, he said, giving them unlimited food and many services. Instead, the county needs a shelter that will hold people accountable and help them save to get their own place, he said.

Dubendorf is not sold on the shelter idea.

“I like the cost differential,” he said, but he also worries that if it's located close to downtown, people will just walk away after an officer drops them off — abandoning the shelter like it was a court date.

In the end, Dubendorf said, it doesn't matter how many services someone is offered. People just have to decide they don't want to be homeless any longer.

<p><em>SARASOTA</em> - His 15th arrest of the year occurred much like the ones before.</p><p>Kenneth Shelton was drinking a beer along Indiana Avenue in Englewood in September when he was picked up for trespassing, his usual charge. </p><p>Shelton, 72, is homeless. Perhaps more accurately, he is a part-time resident of the Sarasota County jail, where he spent 139 nights between September 2012 and September 2013.</p><p>Taxpayers paid $9,889.85 for his stays.</p><p>If he spent 139 days at a homeless shelter it would have cost $2,085 and Shelton would have received addiction and health services, says Bill Spitler, Sheriff's Office director of planning and research.</p><p>Whether you're an altruist or economist, Sarasota County leaders and law enforcement officials say building a homeless shelter makes sense. People who need services and lodging are being detained, and a shelter would save money.</p><p>That's the conclusion of a consultant hired to help the community address its homeless population, and elected officials appear to be in agreement. On Monday, consultant Robert Marbut will discuss his recommendations during several public meetings.</p><p>Every day, two or three people end up in the Sarasota County jail for crimes associated with living on the street, in cars or the woods: trespassing; drinking a beer on the street; public urination.</p><p>Every night they sleep in lockup costs taxpayers $71.15.</p><p>In the past year, officers and deputies arrested 1,616 people who reported being homeless, according to data compiled by the Sheriff's Office. Many of those are “frequent fliers” who have landed in jail several times.</p><p>About a quarter of the homeless people arrested account for more than 53 percent of the total homeless arrests, according to Spitler's data analysis.</p><p>Often people are arrested a second time because they couldn't pay court fines, thus violating their probation. Others suffer from addiction or mental health issues.</p><p>“We have effectively criminalized those social illnesses,” Public Defender Larry Eger said. </p><p>His staff's energy would be better spent representing people who have committed crimes, Eger said.</p><p>“There's a lot of folks who come into the jail because we, as a society, find their behavior a nuisance and need to move them somewhere different than where they are at this moment and we use the criminal justice system to do that,” said Wayne Applebee, the county's new homeless coordinator.</p><p>When the county decided to spend $500,000 in the 2014 budget to address homelessness and help fund a shelter, Commissioner Christine Robinson urged fellow commissioners and the city of Sarasota to allocate money. Robinson was a sharp critic of “overspending” in the county's budget but said the homeless shelter is a worthwhile investment that would cut down on jail costs.</p><p>“It has a direct economic impact on our budget,” she said. </p><p>Deidre Galehouse was drunk and yelling outside an old acquaintance's home when she was arrested for trespassing in December 2011.</p><p>She was 24 and homeless. She said the arrest and ensuing jail time continued a downward spiral that she's still struggling to overcome. </p><p>She lost her driver's license and her job driving for a lawn maintenance company. She was in and out of jail five times over the next year, including arrests for disorderly intoxication, lodging outdoors and violating a restraining order.</p><p>Between jail stays, Galehouse said knew she was violating her probation because she couldn't afford the probation fines and required urine tests, but didn't know what to do.</p><p>“It's not like I ran or anything. I kept calling the probation officer. I just couldn't pay,” Galehouse said.</p><p>She was arrested for the probation violation, and said she owes thousands of dollars in unpaid court fines. That's nothing compared with others. </p><p>One man, Willie, has been picked up for open-container violations so many times, “they call him the $100,000 man,” said Tommy Boulas, Galehouse's partner.</p><p>Instead of ticketing or arresting someone for illegally sleeping or drinking outdoors, deputies could offer to take the person to a shelter, said Spitler. Case managers could help the person get the charge dismissed in exchange for community service.</p><p>Boulas said such a shelter would help the couple save money. </p><p>He looks for work wherever he can, and is often able to pay for a hotel room, but he can't scrape together enough for a first and last month's rent and a shot at greater stability.</p><p>On the nights that the couple cannot afford a hotel, they usually sleep by Sarasota Bay, in an open area where Boulas can see people coming. </p><p>“You have to sleep with one eye open,” he said.</p><p>Police will drive up to them and lay on the horn, he said. They move on, trying to find a better place to catch a few hours' sleep.</p><p>To compound their troubles, Galehouse recently broke her ankle when she was biking and hit a curb. She wore a thick, camouflage-print cast — her third. </p><p>She constantly has to change them, when the casts get wet from rain and sleeping on the damp ground. </p><p>The couple took out a payment plan for the medical bills. They have no idea how they will pay.</p><p>In the fall of 2010, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri's office was struggling after budget cuts. </p><p>The office was short-staffed. Parts of the jail had to close, but the number of people staying there was creeping toward 3,500. Hundreds of people slept on the floor every night. </p><p>“It wasn't sustainable,” Gualtieri said. “We had to do something to unclog the system.”</p><p>A new jail would have cost $3.9 million a year to operate. </p><p>Instead, he opted to build a homeless shelter that costs $1.6 million a year. </p><p>When Pinellas Safe Harbor opened in January 2011, the sheriff quickly noticed a drop at the jail. </p><p>Now, the jail population hovers around 3,000. And while other factors contributed to the drop, Gualtieri estimates that if Safe Harbor closed, some 200 people would be right back in jail. </p><p>Sarasota County and city officials who toured Safe Harbor were quickly converted. Spitler said he went from a skeptic to asking, “Why haven't we been doing this?”</p><p>The shelter also houses adults who have no place else to go. By connecting people with services and housing early on, Gaultieri said, the system prevents future run-ins with law enforcement.</p><p>That preventive role has to be taken into account when Sarasota County looks at creating a shelter, he said.</p><p>Just looking at the number of homeless people arrested in Sarasota County for “nuisance” crimes, who would be eligible to go to the shelter, makes the potential population appear small, both the Sarasota and Pinellas County sheriffs said.</p><p>On average, 18 homeless people are arrested in Sarasota County every week for those low-level crimes, Spitler said. That's less than 2 percent of the jail's average population.</p><p>While 18 people a week may seem low initially, the number of people channeled into the system will steadily increase, said Robert Marbut, the homelessness consultant hired to help the city and county address the need.</p><p>Marbut previously consulted in Pinellas County and helped set up Safe Harbor, and urged Sarasota officials to use it as a model for their own facility. </p><p>When Sarasota Police Officer David Dubendorf arrests or gives a court summons to someone who is homeless, nine times out of 10 it's not the first time. </p><p>He prefers a summons, and tries to avoid taking people to jail for a violation like drinking on a curb. </p><p>Bringing them to jail takes an officer off the street for an hour, costs taxpayers more money and is usually ineffective, said Dubendorf, the police department's homeless liaison.</p><p>That mentality could contribute to the seemingly low number of homeless people arrested for minor crimes.</p><p>However, Dubendorf estimated 40 percent of the time the people he deals with don't show up to their court date and are arrested later for failure to appear.</p><p>In the past year, 18 percent of homeless arrests countywide occurred because someone had a warrant out, according to Sarasota County Sheriff's Office data. That warrant is often for failing to appear or pay court fines, Spitler said.</p><p>For some homeless people in the city, going to jail is a part of life. </p><p>“To them it's just a natural chain of events, to them it's just a circle,” Dubendorf said. “It's not that big of a deal to go.” </p><p>Boulas said that is true. </p><p>He once heard Willie — “the $100,000 man” — tell police: “Take me to jail, I want to watch TV.” </p><p>But many people would be able to transition out of homelessness if they had the right system to help them make the leap, Boulas said.</p><p>Sarasota has made it comfortable for people to be homeless, he said, giving them unlimited food and many services. Instead, the county needs a shelter that will hold people accountable and help them save to get their own place, he said.</p><p>Dubendorf is not sold on the shelter idea. </p><p>“I like the cost differential,” he said, but he also worries that if it's located close to downtown, people will just walk away after an officer drops them off — abandoning the shelter like it was a court date.</p><p>In the end, Dubendorf said, it doesn't matter how many services someone is offered. People just have to decide they don't want to be homeless any longer.</p>